To Have a Life
by Angelo'sG-Ma
Summary: Bobby is ready to have a life beyond the job. Will Alex want the same thing. AU now that season 9 has started
1. Has life passed her by

Disclaimer: I don't own these characters, but be assured that if I did they wouldn't be leaving the show.

A/N: This is just one of the many possibilities that come to mind for their departure from MCS.

* * *

Bobby had just finished cleaning up his dinner dishes when he heard a knock on his back door. Still wearing a dish towel draped over his shoulder and another one tucked into the front of his pants like an apron, he went to answer it. When he opened it, he was surprised to see Eames standing there.

"Eames? Come on in and tell me what's wrong."

She was looking at the floor and didn't look up until she was past him and turned around.

"Why does there have to be something wrong? Can't a person stop over for the hell of it?"

He closed the door and stepped up close to her. When she didn't raise her gaze and just stood looking at his chest he lightly grasped her chin and tipped her head up so he could look down into her eyes.

"Yes, a person can, but that's not the case now, is it?"

"What makes you so sure?"

"You think after all these years I can't tell?" He paused waiting to see if she had a snarky comment to make. When she didn't he continued. "You knock on my door at 9:00 at night after a day spent with your family, and you have to be to work in the morning. Your head was down with your hair hiding your face. Your shoulders were and still are slumped. Your hands are still in your coat pockets, which I am going to guess is to hide the fact that they are shaking slightly rather than being cold. When I add all that up, I come up with the fact that my partner is upset or unhappy about something"

Alex backed up a step removing her chin from his touch and removed her coat. "Not every one likes a genius you know."

"And we both know" He said, taking the coat from her and hanging it up on the stand by the door. "That I'm not a genius, just highly observant of human nature."

"Whatever" She turned and sat down in a chair by the table. Bobby was starting to get really concerned. Alex sounded defeated, which was totally unlike her. He grabbed one of the other chairs and pulled it up to the corner of the table so that he was with in arms reach of her.

"Come on now Eames. Tell me what brought you over here tonight. I can't help if I don't know what the problem is."

"It's just that I was sitting there listening to my family sharing stories about their kids and I started feeling like life has passed my by and I had to get out of there."

"Ahh"

"Thanks Goren, that really helped. It so made it worth the trip."

"Look Eames, I can see how you might have been feeling left out since they were talking about their kids but, life hasn't passed you by. Why would you think that?"

"Where would you like me to start? I'm on the up side of 40 years old, widowed, the only child I ever gave birth to wasn't even mine. I don't exactly see men lining up to knock on my door. Even you're not around very much anymore. It seems like I spend more time partnering with Nichols than I do with you lately."

Bobby fought a quick internal debate with himself and decided the time had come to come clean about his plans for the near future. He hoped she would be receptive to what he had to say.

"Eames...Alex, I think it's time I was completely honest about the time off I have been taking lately."

"Are you saying that you have been keeping things from me again?" She asked with her voice rising slightly.

"Yeah, but not in a bad way. I hope."

"OK, go on then, but bear in mind that I do have my off duty piece in an ankle holster."

He surprised her by reaching out and tucking a stray bit of hair behind her ear, and then tracing her jaw line with his finger tip. "I guess I'll take my chances."

"Bobby what..."

"Alex, part of what I have been doing is working on finding a new source of income for when I leave MCS."  
"LEAVING? What the hell do you mean leaving?"

"Alex, it's time. You may still be closer to 40 but I am pushing 50 and my body is telling me about it. I can't have your back and protect you if I can't keep up anymore. Not to mention, I would like to have a family yet if possible. Some one would still have to be at home with the kids if there was a call in the middle of the night."

She couldn't put her finger on it but something about what he just said was starting to set off a little bell in the back of her mind. "I would think that the mother of the kids you mentioned would be home with them during the night if you weren't."

"Not if she was called out at the same time."

"Well I don't see how that...." She stopped in mid-sentence, as what she thought he was saying registered. She was almost afraid to ask, in case she was wrong and ended up embarrassing herself. "Do...do you mean..." She just couldn't get it out, which for her was unusual.

"Yes Alex, I mean you. I realize that you probably don't think about me like that. After all partners aren't supposed to, and I have tried not to think about you like that for years. The thing is no matter how hard I tried, I just couldn't forget that you are a beautiful, loving, wonderful woman and that if I was lucky enough when the time came that we weren't partners, maybe you might be willing to give me a chance to show you just how much you mean to me."

She reached out and placed her finger tips on his lips so that he would let her talk. "Are you saying that you're leaving MCS so that you can be with me on a personal basis? That you want me to have your children?" She was afraid to believe it. It seemed like all of her dreams might actually come true.

"That's exactly what I am saying, except that you missed a step in there. I want to marry you and then have children."

"Oh Bobby!!"

"I love you Alex. I have for several years now." He stood up and pulled her up with him and then leaned down and tentatively pressed his lips to hers for their first kiss. Once she accepted that he meant everything he was saying she drew back and looked at his face and could see the love and desire shining in his eyes. Alex reached up and placed her hands on the sides of his face and drew him back down to kiss him and the kiss quickly turned heated with their hands groping all over each other trying to feel every part of each other. When the need to breath asserted itself, Bobby pulled back and looked into her eyes. "Alex?"

"Take me to bed Bobby"

"I would carry you if I was younger"

"That's OK, just lead the way"

tbc

A/N2: If you like it, please review. If you don't like it, please review. Either way I would enjoy hearing what you think


	2. Clear thinking

Bobby took hold of her hand and walked backwards, leading Alex to his bedroom. Their eyes stayed fixed on each others the whole time, like they were under some kind of spell. Once they were in his room and he had backed up against the bed, he reached over to turn on the light.

"Please" She begged "Can we leave it off?"

"I know I'm not much to look at anymore," he replied, "but I want to see you."

It hadn't occurred to her that he would think his weight was a problem so she hurried to reassure him. "No! Bobby, it's not you, it's me. I may have managed to get my figure back after having Nathan, but I was left with several really ugly stretch marks that ..."

Bobby reached up and pressed a finger to her lips to silence her. "Alex, they're a part of you. A part of what makes you special." He said as his fingers moved to caress the side of her face. "They're there because you did something special and wonderful for your sister, so please don't be shy about them." He waited a minute before continuing in case she wanted to argue the point. When she didn't he continued. "I have an alternative. I won't turn on the overhead light. Instead I'll turn on the lamp that is on my dresser. That way I can still see you beautiful face when I make love to you."

"OK. I can live with that."

"Good, don't go away." He said and then stepped away to cross the room. While he was doing that, Alex took the opportunity to sit on the side of the bed and try to calm her racing heart. She was having trouble believing that this was actually happening. She had wanted this and had dreamed of it for years, but it was happening so fast and then there was the fact that Bobby had gone behind her back again.

As Bobby crossed back over to her it occurred to him that she never did say how she actually felt about everything that was happening and everything that he had said. He was afraid that she was just going along with it because she was depressed and was afraid that this might be her last chance to have the family she missed out on when Joe died. He sat down next to her on the edge of the bed and took hold of her hand.

"Alex" "Bobby" They both said at the same time.

"Go ahead" Bobby said. "Ladies first"

"I think we need to slow down a bit here." She said with a touch of sadness in her voice.

"Slow down? Or Stop?"

Alex turned sideways on the bed so that she could reach out with her free hand to caress the side of his face and to make sure he was looking at her. "Just slow down. I do want this. I really, really want this. If I didn't, we wouldn't have gotten this far, this fast. But now that I've had a minute to think clearly, while you were getting the light, I realized that we still need to talk about a lot of things that are involved in this. If we don't and just rush straight into bed, then things that should be said won't be and down the road we may regret not ironing out the issues beforehand. We have had enough problems over the last few years that I'm worried that if we go straight from point A to point D, bypassing points B and C, that we'll end up crashing and burning, so to speak." Alex paused, took a deep breath and then finished by saying, "I don't know it all that made sense or not but..."

"No, it did." He assured her. "And you're right. Actually I was having similar thoughts myself, while I was getting the light. So I guess the question is; what do we do now?"

"Now we go back to the kitchen or maybe the living room before we give into temptation."

* * *

Alex settled herself on the couch while Bobby made them some coffee. She knew she had to make him understand that if they were going to start a relationship that, from all signs, was headed straight to marriage, he had to stop keeping things from her. 'Begin as you mean to go on', her dad always said. She also had to wonder just when he would have told her he was leaving the force if it hadn't been for her own demons that drove her out of her family's warm embrace tonight and into his. When he brought the coffee in and set the cups on the coffee table, Alex was pleased to see that hers was just the way she liked it. He had gotten so good, over the years, at making her coffee that she liked it better then when she made it herself. She was sitting on the end of the couch, turned sideways with her legs curled up under her. Bobby sat down next to her and rested a hand on her knee. His touch had her insides getting worked up again. What she wanted to do was to crawl over into his lap but that wouldn't solve anything so instead she decided tackle his lack of communication.

"What the hell Goren! When were you going to tell me you were leaving Major Case? On the way out the door? Or was I going to hear about it as part of an interrogation tactic, like how I found out about your mothers' lymphoma."

Rather than take offense at her accusing rant, he took it for the diversionary tactic that it was and smirked as he scooted over to put some distance between them and turned sideways so he could look at her. "There's the explosion I expected earlier." He said.

"Don't you dare laugh at me Bobby. I've brought down guys bigger than you."

He put his hand in front of his mouth before replying. "I wouldn't dream of laughing at you."

They just stared at each other for several minutes until Alex had to cover her own mouth to hide the smile that she couldn't seem to stop from forming. Before long they were both laughing and Bobby moved back over closer to Alex and pulled her into an embrace.

"I really was planning on telling you about my plans soon, and it would have been before I told Ross."

"It better have been." She said with a stern tone in her voice. "I hope you realize that if we're going to make a go of it and expect it to last, one thing you're going to have to do is learn to open up. And damn it you have to stop keeping things from me."

When she pulled back a little so she could look up into his eyes, he said. "I want to kiss you. May I?"

She grinned and replied "Of course."

He leaned down and lovingly pressed his lips to hers. It was a big strain on both of their will powers but they resisted the need to deepen the kiss.

"I meant what I said about opening up more Bobby. Not that I'm complaining mind you, but distracting me with kisses won't change that."

Bobby sighed and pulled her back to him and rested the side of his face on her silken head. "I know. I'll work on it but please remember that a habit that long in the making will take time to break so I'll have to ask you to be patient with me."

"It may have escaped your notice but I have been patient with you for over 8 years now."

"It hasn't escaped my notice."

They sat there for a while, letting their coffee grow cold, simply enjoying the feeling of being in each others arms. Finally Bobby felt he had to ask. "Alex, how much of what is happening here is because of the way you felt when you left your parents house earlier?"

"How do you mean?"  
Bobby pulled back so he could see her when he spoke. "Darlin', when you got here you were obviously depressed. I guess that what I'm getting at is, I need to know if you really want to be with me or if you are just reaching for what you might think of as your last chance for a family?"

Alex searched his eyes before responding. She saw a mixture of hope, fear and longing. What showed through all of that though was love, so she wanted to choose her words carefully. She didn't want any confusion about her motives. Reaching up she traced his brow, his jawline and then finally his warm soft lips.

"Bobby, when I left my parents house, I could have gone anywhere; home, Olivia's, Carolyn's, a bar...I chose to come here because I wanted to, not because I didn't have any other options. Even when I'm pissed as hell at you, just being with you makes me feel better. Yes, I was a little depressed when I got here but I wasn't desperate. All the secretivness aside, what you're offering me is what I've been longing for and dreaming of for a very, very long time. I don't mean the whole package, marriage, kids, and a family. Although I would have to be stupid to not want that to. But what I mean is YOU. I Love You, and I have been for quite a number of years now."


	3. Morning After

When morning arrived, Bobby and Alex were cuddled up, sleeping on the couch. They were laying on their sides, facing each other, with Alex's head resting on Bobby's arm and her free arm was draped around his waist. Bobby's arms were wrapped around her with his fingers laced together behind her back. The sun shown through a gap in the curtains and illuminated Alex's face. When Bobby woke up, he thought it was the most beautiful sight he had ever seen and laid there just taking it in.

Eventually the sunlight started to bother Alex and she curled further into Bobby to shield her eyes. His arms briefly tightened around her and in her half asleep state of mind, she was confused and panicked thinking she was trapped and shoved backwards as hard as she could. Bobby clearly not expecting her sudden movement, wasn't prepared to stop her backward motion and her rear end landed on the floor. Bobby leaned up on his elbow and looked down at her as she sat there blinking up at him.

"Morning" He said, almost too cheerily.

"Oh shut up" She replied, but he wasn't offended. He knew she wasn't a morning person on a good day and falling off the couch was likely to make matters worse. Bobby quietly chuckled as he got up and then reached down to help her up.

"Come on Sunshine, from the look of things we're already late for work."

"Wonderful, Ross will be sending out memo's again about coming in on time."

"At least you won't have to go home for clothes."

"I won't?"

"When you finish waking up" he said as he lightly kissed the top of her nose. "You'll remember that you left some clothes here when you slept on my couch after the incident with Mulroony."

"Oh, OK. Then do you want the shower first?"

"No, you go ahead. I'll get the coffee started."

Alex leaned up on her toes and gave him a quick kiss. "You're handy to have around in the mornings."

He returned her kiss and then turned her around and gave her slight swat on the butt to get her moving.

"Your clothes are in the closet, on the right side."

While Alex was in the shower, Bobby got the coffee ready. As soon as he heard the water turn off, he added just the right amounts of cream and sugar to her cup, poured the coffee and headed to the bedroom with it. On his way, he heard a cell phone ring. His was still in his front pants pocket, he had laid on it all night. The ringing sounded like it was coming from the coat rack where he had hung Alex's coat last night. Putting the cups down on the table he went to check it. If it was work, it would wait, but he wanted to make sure it wasn't a family emergency. He found it in her coat pocket just as it stopped ringing and went to voice mail. A quick check of the missed call log showed that it was indeed Ross. Putting her phone back he started back to take the coffee to her when his own cell phone started ringing. He stopped and leaned on the counter while he answered it, knowing it was going to be Ross.

"Goren"

"Detective, can I assume you and your partner have good reasons to explain why neither of you have reported in to work yet?"

"Completely my fault Captain. I asked Eames..."He glanced up just then as Alex walked into the room. She picked up her coffee and walked over to lean on the counter next to him.

"Detective!"

"What? Oh sorry. Where was I?"

"You asked Detective Eames something"

"Oh, right. I asked her to pick me up this morning and then I overslept and she had to wake me up and..."

"I get the point Detective. Is she there? She didn't answer her cell."

Bobby smiled at the lady in question before answering. "Actually, not at the moment, she ran down to the corner for some some high octane coffee while waiting for me to get ready. As far as her phone, I'll have her check it when she gets back. I know she spent yesterday with her family and she has mentioned in the past that her nephew likes to play with it. My guess would be that it accidentally got turned off or put on silent.

Ross was beginning to wish he hadn't asked. "When your partner gets back, consider yourselves on the clock. We have a dead body on one of those casino boats. See Detective O'Neil when you get on scene."

"Yes sir." After he closed his phone, he turned and pulled Alex into a brief embrace. "We got a dead guy on a casino boat. Ross already put us on the clock so I'll make my shower fast."

True to his word, they were on their way out the door within ten minutes. A half hour later, they found themselves sitting in traffic at a stand still. Since they were in Alex's car and not in the departmental SUV, they didn't have a police radio to monitor what the traffic jam was due to. Alex got out her phone and called dispatch to try and get some information. She identified herself and gave her location.

"Sorry Detective, but the Presidential motorcade just left the Mayor's mansion and is heading in your direction. Advise you find an alternate route."

"To late for that, we're pretty boxed in here." She replied. "Relay to Detective O'Neil and Captain Ross that we are going to be awhile." After she ended the call she looked over at Bobby. "You might as well get comfortable. The President is in town and heading this way. We're going to be stuck here awhile." As time passed she watched Bobby switch positions several times. "Sorry Bobby, but if we hadn't overslept, we would have the SUV and you'd have more room for those long legs of yours."

"If we had the SUV, we wouldn't be stuck in traffic. We would have heard the bulletins on the scanner." He replied grouchily.

"Well.." she smirked. "If you're going to be that way. If we had gotten to work on time in the first place, we would have known before we left 1PP and I would have taken a different route."

"Sorry, You're right. I just hate to be trapped in one spot. You know?"

She did know. She knew that it was just one of the many ways his time at Tates still haunted him. She still harbored some guilt in her heart for the part she played by going along with it. So she did the only thing she could do right then, distract him. Alex reached over and stroked his neck. "I know...So last night you said you were working on finding a new source of income. Have you made any progress on that?"

Bobby shifted so that he could see her without turning his head too much. He was enjoying the feel of her soft hand on his neck. When is slid on down his arm, he sighed and reached over to take hold of it. "Actually, yeah. Deakins offered me a job with the security firm he's a partner in. The Captain offered me more money than I make now and the hours would basically be 8:30 to 5:30 Monday through Friday, with only the occasional Saturday. Then given the number of years I have in on the Job, add my retirement pay on to that and I will be bringing home almost twice as much each month." By time he was done, he was grinning like a school boy, talking about a new toy.

"I'm happy for you Honey. After the rough time you've had the last few years, you deserve it." She looked down and watched his thumb stroke the back of her hand as he held it. She had to swallow hard to force down the lump that formed in the back of her throat. When she looked back up into his eyes she felt like she could drown in those eyes. Love for him washed over her in waves as they stared into each others eyes.


	4. Friend or Foe

Alex and Bobby finally arrived on the scene of their newest case, an hour and a half after they received the call from Captain Ross. When they boarded the Casino Boat, Detective O'Neil was waiting for them on deck.

"Alex, good to see you again. What has it been? 10 years?"

"Almost Cheri. I'd like you to meet my partner, Bobby Goren. Bobby, this is Cheri O'Neil. We worked together back in Vice."

Bobby put his hand out but instead of shaking his hand Cheri just nodded and said, "Goren"

Bobby just sighed and pulled his hand back. She had put so much hostility in just the one word. Alex also felt the hostility that her old friend seemed to have for her partner. She reached up and put a hand on his arm just above the elbow. "Well, we should get to it. Where is the body, Cheri?"

"In his state room. Deck B. Room 22."

"You go ahead down Bobby and I'll get the pertinent details here." He just nodded and walked away.

Alex and Cheri watched him go and then Cheri turned back to Alex. Alex didn't give her a chance to say anything about Bobby. She had her notebook out and was ready to take notes. "Do we have a name on the victim?"

Cheri sighed and got out her own notebook so she could relay the information. "Victim: Stew Suffney, Caucasian, age: 35 Department Manager at a retail super center. The super center is a regional chain out of the Midwest. They charted the boat for the weekend for an anniversary celebration."

"Witnesses?"

"None, Since you and your partner were stuck in traffic, I went ahead and interviewed the occupants of the neighboring cabins. They didn't hear or see anything. The uniforms are getting the names and contact information for all the other passengers. His cabin mate is another manager from his store, Dutch Harrigan. He's in the bar."

"OK thanks" Alex started to walk away but Cheri reached out and grabbed her arm.

"Alex, wait a minute."

"What's the problem Cheri?" She knew what the problem was or rather who. What she didn't know is why.

"Your partner"

"Yeah, what about him?" she said defensively.

"Why haven't you gotten away from him. From what I've heard, he's not stable."

"Look Cheri, people shouldn't always listen to every thing they hear and I really don't need to justify myself to you or anyone else."

"I'm just saying..."

"And I'm just saying that you need to back off and you owe him an apology."

"His father is Mark Ford Brady!"

Alex was so angry now that it took every bit of her will power to not punch Cheri. Instead she said, "And my father is John Eames. Does that automatically mean that I take bribes? You know nothing about who he is or what he has been through."

Neither woman noticed that a small crowd was starting to gather around them, passengers and police.

"You were abducted by his friends daughter for crying out loud.!"

Alex took a deep breath before responding and didn't notice Bobby stepping through the crowd behind her. "I was abducted by the emotionally neglected daughter of a narcissistic profiler that was trying to get her fathers attention. My partner's the reason I'm still alive." She waited a couple of heart beats before continuing. "Really Cheri, you seem mighty well informed for a cop with no attachment to Major Case except me...and like we already said, we haven't talked in 10 years."

Cheri looked around and realized they were the focus of attention and even though the uniforms on scene were from her precinct it was time to back off for now, unless she wanted to have to explain to her Captain. "Never mind, Detective Eames. The case is yours and I have better places to be." With that she turned and pushed her way through the crowd. When Alex turned around she ran right into Bobby.

"Sorry, I didn't realize you were there."

Bobby just stood there and looked at the group surrounding them and slowly they drifted away. "Are you ready to examine the body now?" he said at last. There were several things he wanted to say to her about what had just happened but knew it would be better to wait until a more private time.

Alex was still fuming about the altercation when they walked into the victims stateroom. She had taken a lot of heat over the years from both family and associates for sticking with Bobby. Normally she just blew it off, but now that she was thinking about spending the rest of her life with him, she decided she wasn't going to just take it anymore. Thankfully her family had backed off after the first couple of years that she was partnered with him and actually started liking him. Her fellow police officers however never seemed to stop seeing him as a whack job.

The room was a mess. Lamps were over turned. The television was broken and chairs were over turned. "Looks like our victim had a little disagreement with someone." Bobby said.

"If this is the result of a little disagreement, I would hate to see what it would look like if it was a major fight."

"So what do we know about him?" he asked as he knelt down to examine the body. Alex took out her note book and relayed the information to him that Cheri had given her. Bobby leaned down and did his thing with sniffing and other things that used to gross her out, but she had gotten used to. He started rattling off his observations, confident that she would note them all down.

"He's been drinking...smells like white wine...bruise on the right cheek...knuckles scrapped up...split lip...bleeding gums..." He noticed the end of something metal and flat just under the side of the bed. He reached over and picked it up. It was a box cutter with the cutting end exposed and it was covered in blood. "This would be our murder weapon most likely, but we'll have to wait for the ME before we can turn him over. I don't see an immediate cause of death from this position." Just then Dr. Rodgers walked in.

"Doing my job for me again Detective?" She asked.

Bobby grinned up at her when he answered. "Who me?"

"I'll leave you two to play" Alex said. "And go talk to the room mate."

When Alex walked into the boats bar, she walked over to the bartender and asked him if he knew which person was Dutch Harrigan. "Sure, guy by himself over in the corner. Been nursing the same beer since he sat down."

"Thanks" As she approached the table, she took note of his appearance. Like their victim, he had bruising on his face, and the hand wrapped around the beer mug was bashed up. "Mr. Harrigan, I'm Detective Eames. I need to ask you some questions."

Dutch waive his hand at the chair across from him to indicate that she was welcome to sit down. "Is he dead?" he asked after she sat.

"Yes, I'm afraid he is. Detective O'Neil said that you worked together." She made it more of a question than a statement.

"More or less"

"More or less, how?"

"Technically, I was his immediate boss."

"Can you tell me what happened in your stateroom?"

"In some ways, I really don't know. I mean...we had just gotten back to the cabin from the casino, Stew had been drinking a lot. His luck had been rotten all night. We started talking about the store and I was telling him about some procedural changes that I wanted to make to our department when we got back. Next thing I know I'm on the floor, my face is on fire and he's standing over me looking really pissed."

"So, you're saying, he attacked you."

"Yeah."

"What happened next.?"

"I got up and pushed him. After that it's all just a blur. I don't remember who hit who when but then it seemed like the fight had gone out of him when he reached in his pocket and pulled out a box cutter. He came at me and we struggled over the blade and then next thing I know, he's on the floor bleeding."

"What did you do then?"

"I went into the bathroom and cleaned up my cuts and bruises then came down here and ordered this beer."

"Why didn't you call for medical help for Mr. Suffney?"

"I don't know"

Alex sighed as she got up and signaled the uniformed officer standing by the entrance of the bar. "Mr. Harrigan, would you please stand up?" He looked up at her for a minute before it registered what was going to happen. He stood up and turned around putting his hand behind his back. "I'm afraid you're under arrest" His head hung down as she passed him off to the uniform for transportation. Bobby passed them on him way into the bar and walked over to where Alex was watching them walk away.

"His wrist was slashed" Bobby told her. "Most likely with the box cutter we found"

"Well, if Harrigans statement holds up, it looks like it might have been self defense and accidental. But we'll wait and see. Maybe when we get him into interrogation and you step into him, his story might change."

"Maybe"


	5. Questions and Answers

Bobby stood at the window in the observation room watching his partner take their prime suspect back over the statement he had given at the scene. With one part of his brain he was listening to the man's inflections and watching his body language, looking for his 'tells' so he would know what buttons to push when he joined Alex in questioning him. The rest of his brain was totally focused on remembering what had happened that morning on the casino boat.

_He had just gotten below deck and started making his way to the victims cabin when he walked past a small group of uniformed cops standing around talking. Though he wasn't interested in their conversation, he caught the words O'Neil, bitch, Moran, and pet. He understood then, the hostility that came from Detective O'Neil up on deck. From behind him another cop ran down the stairs and said to the other cops. "Hey guys, you need to see this. O'Neil is squaring off against the lady detective from Major Case. When he saw that __Bobb__y was just up the passage way and had stopped and turned back to look at him, the cop had the good sense to look embarrassed but then the group of them all headed back up. _

_Bobby weighed his options and then decided he better head back up and see what was going on. He knew she could handle herself and wouldn't welcome his interference so he would stay out of it unless it became necessary to do otherwise, but he would be there for moral support if nothing else. He worked his way through the crowd that had gathered and stepped clear of it just as Detective O'Neil shouted "You were abducted by his friends daughter for crying out loud". _

_'OH Hell' he thought, he really wished people would quit reminding her of that, but before he could start that quick trip down the guilty path he heard Alex say "I was abducted by the emotionally neglected daughter of a narcissistic profiler that was trying to get her fathers attention. My partner's the reason I'm still alive." He was stunned. He knew she didn't blame him but hadn't realized that she saw him as the reason she was still alive. He would have to ask her about that later but now he was thinking along the same lines as his partner when he heard her say "Really Cheri, you seem mighty well informed for a cop with no attachment to Major Case except me...and like we already said, we haven't talked in 10 years." He would see what he could find out about that, and was thinking about how to do that when she turned and ran into him._

_Later after finishing the on-scene consult with ME Rodgers Bobby decided to find the cops, from the hallway , before joining Alex in the bar where she was talking to the cabin mate of the victim. Two from the group were standing in the same spot from before and when he approached them, they came to attention. _

"_Question" Bobby said_

"_Ask away" One of them replied._

"_You were discussing Detective O'Neil earlier before the incident above deck"_

"_Yes Sir"_

"_I heard words like Bitch, Moran, and Pet. Am I drawing the correct conclusion that you don't care fore Detective O'Neil?"_

"_Um, I would prefer not to answer that." The one cop said. The other one wasn't so reluctant to express his opinion. "Lady is a pain in our asses. Always acting like she was top dog in the precinct." _

"_Would I also be correct in concluding that you see her as Moran's pet."_

"_Hard not for her to be, seeing as her old man was one of Moran's old partners. At least that is the rumor."_

Bobby's mind was completely brought back to the present when Captain Ross came into the observation room.


	6. Interrogation

Bobby's mind was completely brought back to the present when Captain Ross came into the observation room.

"Detective"  
"Captain"

"He sticking to his self defense story?"

"So far"

"I gather you don't believe him."

"Parts of his story don't mesh with other witness statements and the lab reports."

"You're not going to suggest that you and or your partner take some travel time to go and speak with their co-workers." The Captain said that more as a statement than a question.

"Oh, I think once we really step into him we'll get all the information, besides there was some other co-workers and their boss on the boat. They will be staying at a local hotel for a couple of more days." In the interrogation room, Alex stood and started wandering the room while talking to Harrigan. When she walked behind him, she paused long enough to look at the mirror and nod to Bobby, knowing that he was on the other side of the two-way glass watching them. "There's my cue Captain" That said, he turned and left the room. Seconds later Ross watched the door of the interrogation room open and Bobby walk in. He had his binder open and was shuffling papers one handed looking like he was about to spill them all over. Luckily Alex was still mostly behind Harrigan so he couldn't see the twinkle of amusement in her eyes. She crossed her arms in front of her and bit down on her lip to keep from laughing.

Harrigan sighed and rolled his eyes. From behind him Alex said, "Mr Harrigan, this is my partner Detective Goren." Then she walked back around the table and sat down across from him again. "Goren, do you have the preliminary report from the ME?"

"Yeah, it's in here somewhere." He replied, still shuffling papers in the precariously balanced binder.

She sighed and looked apologetically at Harrigan. The look he gave her in return clearly said that he thought the large Detective was a bumbling idiot. Which she thought, was exactly what they wanted him to think for now.

"Really Goren, if you would clean that thing out once in awhile, you wouldn't have this problem."

"I know, I know, but you never know when you might need something."

"OH? Like what?"

"That's the point. You never know." Bobby finally produced the ME report and handed it to Alex. "Here it is. I told you it was in here"

She spent a couple of minutes looking over the report although she already knew what it said. Bobby closed his binder and stepped up next to her and leaned down to read the report over her shoulder. He straitened up quickly though because he had a sudden urge to kiss her slender neck and that would be bad with Ross and Harrigan looking on. "In your statement to my partner here, you said that Stew was intoxicated."

"No I said that he had been drinking heavily."

"Semantics...You also said that he had been loosing all night."

"That was my general impression."

"So it would surprise you to hear that there was no alcohol found in his blood and that he had $2000 in his pocket."

"Mr Harrigan, you can see how this looks bad. If he wasn't drunk and was winning in the casino then he should have been in a decent mood." He looked at Alex as she said that and started shifting in his chair, so she pushed a little more. "Unless there is something that you're not telling us, starting a fight over store procedures discussed while on vacation would be a bit drastic and out of character according to a few of your fellow passengers that are from your store."

Bobby sat down next to Alex and opened his binder again. He pulled out two pictures from the crime scene and placed them in front of Harrigan. "Come on Dutch" He said. "There must have been more to your argument for Stew to end up like this."

"No, I told you. I told him about the changes I wanted to make at the store. He attacked me and pulled out the box cutter. He got cut in the struggle."

"No see according to the medical examiner the box cutter can't make cuts that deep on accident. A lot of pressure and intent was needed to do this." Alex said as she pointed to the photo's on the table.

Bobby pulled another paper out of his binder and laid it next to the photos. "This report from the lab shows only one set of prints on the weapon. If Stew was the one that pulled it on you, those prints would be his, but their not."

Dutch Harrigan started shaking his head to say no but before he could say anything Alex stood, planted her hands in front of herself on the table and leaned over it.

"Those are your fingerprints on the box cutter Dutch. There is nothing that shows that box cutter was ever in Stew's possesion."  
"Alright, alright, I did it."

Alex sat back down and Bobby encouraged him to tell them what had happened.

"It started mostly the way I said and I really thought that he was probably drunk. After talking to some people from other stores, I thought that we could increase productivity if we made some changes. We ended up in a fist fight and I knocked him out. I stood there looking at him and became more and more furious at him. I don't know what came over me. Next thing I remember is that I was kneeling beside him with the box cutter in my hand and blood was every where. I tossed it under the bed, rolled him over, cleaned myself up and left the room for the bar." Harrigan put his face in his hands and started weeping.

The door of the interrogation room opened and Ross stepped in with another man.

"Detectives, this is Mr Harrigan's Lawyer."

"He didn't" Alex started

"No Eames" Ross said. "His boss did."


	7. After Work

a/n: Sorry it took so long to update. Life has a way of getting in the way. Plus I then have to beg my daughter for the use of my own laptop to work on it. HaHAHA Just kidding Posionedquill. (sort off).

* * *

Bobby and Alex spent the rest of their shift doing paperwork. At 6p.m. They agreed that they had done all they could until they got the final autopsy report from Rodgers. While they were straitening their desks so the could leave Bobby asked, "So Eames, do you have any plans for tonight?"

"A few ideas but nothing specific, what about you?"

"Well...Um...I..." He was suddenly feeling nervous. He really wanted to spend the evening (maybe longer) with her especially now that they had declared their feelings for each other, but he was unused to asking for what he wanted.

Alex stood there and watched him struggle with himself. If she had less self esteem, she might think that he was regretting last night and this morning. Instead, she found it kind of cute. "Cat got your tongue, Goren?"

"No...I just...?"

She decided to take pity on him but looked around before she spoke to make sure no one was listening to them. Then she lowered her voice just to be on the safe side.. "Come on, I'll cook and you can tell me more about the job with Deakins."

On the way to the elevator he replied jokingly. "You can cook? What are you going to fix, frozen dinners?"

As the elevator opened she said. "You deserve one for that. Now you'll just have to wait and find out."

There were four other people on the elevator so they stood on opposite sides on the way down to the parking garage.

They were five miles away from 1PP when Bobby asked her to pull over. Once she had, she turned to him and asked. "What's wrong?"

"Not a thing." Bobby leaned towards her and beckoned her closer with his finger. It didn't take her long to realize what he wanted and since she wanted the same thing she undid her seatbelt and moved as close to him as the center console would allow her to. He reached out and stroked the side of her face before closing the distance and kissing her. She moaned as she brought her arms up around his neck. Even though it was all still new, she had a feeling of coming home. When they eventually drew apart, Bobby looked deep in her eyes and said softly. "I have wanted to do that all day."

"Me too."

"I guess we should get back on the road."

"Yeah, unless we want to explain to a patrol car why we are sitting here necking."

Bobby laughed as she pulled back into traffic. "It would be my luck that it would be your brother."

"He likes you, my whole family does. I'm the one that would get the grief, every time he saw me."

"I wouldn't want to cause problems for you with your family." He said worriedly. He felt that he had been dragging her down at work for years. The last thing he wanted to do was make trouble for her with her brother.

Alex could tell by the tone of his voice that he was starting to doubt his worth again. She was really getting tired of it. One way or another, she would make him see that he was worth everything. "Bobby , it's not a matter of causing problems and you should know that. My brother lives to harass me every chance he gets. I just meant that it would give him new ammunition to use and he doesn't know when to quit. OK?"

"OK, I'll try not to give him more ammunition." Alex just rolled her eyes and kept driving.

A few minutes later Bobby was conscious of the fact that his leg was bouncing and he knew it was because he was nervous about bringing up the events of that morning. He knew he had to though.

"Alex...about Detective O'Neil."

"Bobby. I don't know what got into her. I never would have expected that kind of behavior from her, especially at a crime scene." She could see his leg moving, out of the corner of her eye, and moved one hand off the steering wheel, laying it on his leg to calm its movement.

"Yeah, about that. While you were getting Harrigan's statement in the bar, I tracked down a couple of officers that I overheard talking just as things got interesting."

"Ha... interesting, that's one way to put it. Sorry, go on."

"Rumor has it that her dad was Moran's partner years ago. They called her Moran's pet."

"Huh, well that explains how she is so well informed." She pulled her hand off his leg and slammed it against the steering wheel. "Dammit, where does he get off discussing you like that with other detectives that don't even know you."

Bobby was touched that she was getting so worked up on his behalf, but in an effort to calm her a bit he said. "So you're saying that he should discuss me with my friends."

"No" She said firmly. "He shouldn't be discussing you at all."

"Alex, Honey, please don't get upset about this. Once we decide when I'll turn in my resignation, it won't be an issue anymore."

"He shouldn't be allowed to run you off the force. Maybe we could go over his head to the commissioner and file a complaint."

"That's not your style Alex, and it's not mine. Besides he's not running me off. I'm leaving so that we can have a life together, remember?"

"Yeah, I remember" She gave him half a smile and reached over to give his hand a squeeze.

When they got to Alex's place, she strongly suggested that he go into the living room and read a book or watch television while she cooked dinner.

"What if I want to watch you cook?"

"After your comments earlier you don't get to watch. You just get to wait and wonder what I'll put in front of you."

"If I promise to be good?"

"Nope. Go"

"Alright" He hung his head as he turned to walk away but she wasn't worried because she could see the smile on his face. When he walked into the living room he went over to her bookshelf to see if he could find a book that would interest him. There were some biographies, romance novels, thrillers, and even some spiritual books. What surprised him though was on the third shelf he found a small collection of books on profiling and serial killers. He pulled out a relatively new one, that he hadn't read yet, and sat down on the couch to read.

In the kitchen, Alex had couple of steaks cooking on her George Foreman grill while she was sir-frying vegetables. She planned to round out the meal with a salad and a loaf of French bread she bought over the weekend. While she worked she thought more about the incident that morning on the casino boat, Cheri O'Neil, and Chief of D's Moran, but then made a concerted effort to put it out of her mind when she put dinner on the table and lit the candles she had in the middle.

Walking in to the living room she came up behind the couch and wrapped her arms around Bobby's shoulders, She leaned down so her head was next to his. "Find something interesting to read?"

"Yeah" he replied as he turned his head and kissed her cheek. "I didn't realize you read this kind of thing." Alex straitened up and walked around the couch and grabbed his hand to pull him up. On the way into the dinning room she said. "I didn't used to read that stuff, but then you got suspended and I didn't have you there to profile the perps so I decided that I better read up on it.

They sat down to eat and after the first few bites, Bobby said, "This is really good Alex. I'm sorry I doubted your cooking skills." She smiled and took a sip of her wine before replying.

"I'm glad you like it, but why did you doubt me?"

Bobby had the good sense to look guilty when he said, "Well...um...It's just that from what comments you've made in the past about ordering take out or popping in a frozen dinner when we weren't working late, I guess that I just assumed..."

"Oh, You assumed. You know what they say about assuming."

"Just for the record I am the only ass here. You're too pretty to be one."

"Nice try there Goren, but I'll remind you that we have both met a lot of pretty women who could qualify for being labeled an ass. For the record though, as you can see, I can cook, my mother wouldn't allow a daughter of hers to not learn how. I generally don't bother though when it's just me. It just seems like too much work for one, so don't worry you won't be forced to survive on carry out and frozen."

"I wasn't worried."

"You weren't?"

"No, I just figured that I would probably be doing most of the cooking." Alex tossed her napkin at him for that and they went back to eating. When they were finished, he asked her, "Do you prefer to clean up right away or to wait until later."

She stood up and started piling the dishes. "Now, if you don't mind. Never know when Ross is going to call us out and then it could be hours or days before I get back to taking care of it." She paused before continuing and looked at him. "Another reason why I don't cook when it's just me. Less to clean up in a hurry."

Bobby stretched and thought that he was fuller than he had been in a long time. Alex was a great cook. He could and did do a decent job, after all if he hadn't learned at a young age how to cook, both him and his mother would have starved. His ability paled though in comparison to the meal Alex had put before him. "So do you want help with the clean up or would you prefer that I go back to the couch so that you can prove that you can do it?" He said that even though he had every intention of helping her, and it took extreme effort to say it with a strait face.

She stopped what she was doing and turned to look at him. She couldn't tell if he was serious or not from the expression on his face so she walked over to him, put her arms around his neck and leaned down to kiss him. She put as much passion and need into the kiss as she could. When she stopped and pulled back, she said. "The couch is fine...that is if you want it to be the cold, lonely one back in your apartment."

Bobby cleared his throat before responding. "Yes... well... wash or dry?"


	8. An Evening of Talk

They had the kitchen cleaned in a short amount of time and settled in on the couch with the television turned on to one of the all music channels. After a bit of lively debate they had decided on the soft Jazz channel. Bobby was in the corner of the couch with his shoe less feet propped on the coffee table. Alex was curled up next to him with her head just below his shoulder. Bobby's arm was around her shoulders with his hand lightly moving up and down her arm.

"So you said last night that there were a number of issues that we needed to talk about. What ones would you like to talk about tonight?" Bobby inquired.

"I don't know. It's not like I made a list."

"OK then, I have a question for you. This morning you told Cheri O'Neil that I was the reason you survived the ordeal with Jo Gage."  
"Yeah and?"

"Why? I mean, you escaped all by yourself. Ross and I were chasing our tails, focusing on Declan instead of Jo."

"I've told you before that you had no reason to suspect her. I never considered her a threat. You have to quit blaming yourself."

"I know but.."

Alex sat up and looked him in the eye. "No buts. You want to know one reason why I feel you're the reason I survived?" He nodded slightly but didn't say anything because he was afraid of making her more irritated with him than she already was. "I know I told you, when I was in the hospital, that she removed my gag and wanted me to scream so I didn't. You said then that that was why she didn't kill me. I learned a lot over the years about the inner workings of the minds of psychopaths. I learned that from you. Besides that, you and Ross may have been focused on Declan but by doing that he wanted Jo kept close. That gave me the time to free myself and escape."

"So we accidentally got it right by getting it wrong."

She got up and straddled his lap so she could look at him eye to eye. Placing her hands on the sides of his face she said. "How many cases do we go through several suspects until we zero in on the right one? 5, 10? Most of them is the answer. Why should that case have been any different."

"You're right" He sighed. "But I was so off balance with that case. Even from the beginning. I hadn't seen Declan in over 10 years and there he was. I wanted to get it right and I wanted it to be Sebastian so that He could finally be vindicated. Then you were gone. Once I got Ross to agree to let me bring in Declan, I had Declan telling me to accept that you were dead. Then we were surrounded by cops and your phone was found in his briefcase. I swear Alex if there hadn't been all those cops there I would have killed him on the spot." There was so much pain in his voice as he spoke that she felt tears gathering in her eyes but she refused to let herself stop him now that he was finally talking to her about what he went through. This was a major step for him. So she laid her head on his shoulder and stroked his neck as he went on. "When we got back to the garage at 1PP and found your car, I was scared to open the trunk but I wouldn't let anyone else do it. I...I popped the trunk and it was obvious that there was a body under the tarp." His arms tightened around her. "I thought that was it, my life was officially over, but when I pulled the tarp back and it turned out to be the video clerk Amanda, I was just numb. I couldn't think. My brain didn't really start working again until word came through that you had been found and that you were alive. No, that's not right. It didn't start working until I came into the emergency room and saw you for myself."

She knew she had to repay honesty with honesty, so she admitted to him some of her feelings from while she was being held captive. "While I was hanging there, I knew that I had to do what ever it took to survive."

"Of course you did. You had your nephew and the rest of your family to live for."  
"Yeah, but mostly I had to stay alive for you."  
"ME?"

She straitened back up and caressed his face"Yes you! You big goof ball! Bobby, I can't pinpoint the exact time I started falling in love with you or even the exact time I knew that I had stopped falling and was irrevocably in love with you but believe me when I tell you it was a long time before Jo grabbed me."

Bobby looked at her lovingly. "Alex, I had no idea."

"You weren't supposed to. I worked really hard at not letting you see how I felt. As far as I knew I was the only one to feel more than the friendship that goes with being partners. The nurses in the ER knew though."

"You told them, but not me?" he asked with mock indignation.

"No, I didn't have to tell them. Do you remember, right after you came in they gave me a shot that put me to sleep within minutes?" He nodded yes. "Well they had been trying to give me that sedative ever since the ambulance brought me in, but I refused to allow them to until either you got there or they got me a phone so I could talk to you. Every one from the rescue crew to the Paramedics, to the ER staff refused to get me a phone and just kept telling me that I needed to rest. They didn't realize that after getting myself free so I could get back to you, I wasn't going to rest until you knew that I was OK and that I knew you were OK."

"So of course the first thing you say to me is that I looked like hell." He said with a laugh.

"I was glad you looked like that though. If you had looked well rested, shaved and with a clean suit on I would have thought that my almost dying didn't mean much to you."

"Trust me when I say, the fact that you had been taken by a serial killer, well, I wasn't going to stop until you were found, and if she had killed you...."

Alex couldn't take the pain in his voice any more and leaned in and kissed him in a slow tantalizing way to try and convey just how much she loved him. When she came up for air she said "I'm OK, You're OK, and We're OK."

"Alex, Honey, I know we still have a lot that we need to talk about but please let me stay." He reached out and tucked her hair behind her ear and gently dragged his finger down her throat. "We don't have to do anything your not ready for, I just want to be able to hold you."

She pretended to think about it for a couple of seconds even though she already knew her answer.

"You, my dear Detective Goren can stay, but just so you know, my side of the bed is the middle."

"Really? How convenient, so is mine. That should make it nice and cozy."


	9. The Dream

_Alex was standing by the crib gazing down at their baby boy. She was so filled with love for this child that her and Bobby had made. Just as she reached out to pick him up Bobby came in the room with her cell phone. "Hey Babe, it's Ross." As she grabbed the phone a fog swirled up around her. When it cleared, she found herself sitting at her desk in the squad room and most of the lights were off. When her phone rang, she answered it some how knowing that it was going to be Bobby. _

"_Eames"_

"_Hey Babe, guess what he just did." He said excitedly._

"_What?"_

"_He said Mama"_

_Again, she was enveloped in a fog. When it cleared again, she was walking in the front door of their home. Bobby met her at the door. "Hey Babe, you just missed it, he started crawling." _

_She sat bolt upright in the bed. The dream had been so real and so disturbing. Then Alex heard the cry of a baby. Bobby rolled over and groaned. "Sounds like the little guy is hungry."_

"_You stay there, I'll get him." Just as she started to get out of bed, her phone rang on the nightstand. She reached over and checked the display. "ROSS" _

"_Don't sweat it Babe, I'll feed him, you need to go."_

"Alex, honey wake up" Bobby brushed her hair out of her face and gently wiped at the tears that were on her cheeks. He had woken up a few minutes ago and heard her sobbing. When he leaned up on his elbow so that he could see her face, he realized that she was still asleep and was having a bad dream. He tried again to gently wake her. "Alex" He leaned down and kissed her forehead. "Wake up now honey, it's just a dream." When she woke up, she turned into his embrace and cried earnestly. "It's OK, Babe, I'm here." He murmured in an effort to comfort her. Instead she pushed away from him and practically yelled at him.

"Don't ever call me Babe!"

Confused by her reaction, he scooted up and leaned against the headboard, raising his hands as sign of surrender. "OK, calm down, I didn't mean anything by it." It occurred to him then that calling her Babe must have been a Joe thing.

"Don't tell me to calm down like some errant child!"

He started to reach for her but her cell phone started ringing on the nightstand. He sighed and reached over, picked it up and turned to hand it to her, but she was already running into the bathroom, slamming the door behind her. He looked at the display and saw that it was Ross calling. There was no way he was answering her cell phone at 7am. Knowing that his cell would be ringing soon, he got up and went to get it from his coat pocket. As expected, by time he got there, it was ringing. "Goren"

Alex was standing in the shower, letting the water beat down on her face, washing the tears away. She knew that she had been unreasonable to Bobby just now and remembering the confused look on his face mad her cry more. The dream had really upset her though. It had just been two nights ago when she had shown up on his doorstep feeling like life had passed her by and dreaming about missing out on their baby's life (not that they'd even had sex yet, let alone a baby, she reminded herself) had made her an emotional mess. She just knew that the phone call had been Ross. If she had taken the phone she most likely would have thrown it at the wall and really freaked Bobby out. As much as she wanted to stay in the shower and hide, Alex knew that she needed to get out, face Bobby, and apologize.

Bobby was sitting on the couch drinking a cup of coffee when she came out in her robe. He picked up a second cup from the table and handed it to her. She took it and sat down on chair at the end of the couch. "Bobby", "Alex" they said at the same time.

"Go ahead" they both said.

"Ladies first" Bobby said but Alex just stared at him. "Alright. That was Ross on the phone..."

"You didn't..." She interrupted. Then she stopped herself and said. "Of course you didn't, sorry, go on."

Bobby cleared his throat before continuing. He was irritated that she would even think for a second that he would have been foolish enough to answer a call from their boss on her cell phone especially early in the morning. Some of the irritation could be heard in his voice when he continued. "As I was saying that was Ross on the phone. When you didn't answer he call me on my cell. We're wanted in the DA's office at 10 am regarding the Suffney murder. He suggested that we might want to start our day a little late and just go strait there."

"OH, OK then" They sat there in silence drinking their coffee for a few minutes, while Alex worked up the courage to apologize. Not knowing Alex's internal struggle, Bobby put his cup down and got up.

"I'm going to shower."

She reached out and grabbed his hand when he crossed in front of her.

"Bobby, I'm sorry"

He stopped and looked down at her and for the first time since she had fled to the bathroom, he let himself look into her eyes. He could see that they were filled with pain and unshed tears. Turning his hand, he pulled her up and moved her over to the couch so they could sit together.

"Talk to me Alex"

"You know, I've always been bothered by you shutting me out and not telling me what's going on in your life, but I realize now that I have done the same to you a lot of the time."

"I think we both have some work to do in that area. Right now though I am concerned about what happened between when we went to sleep last night and when your phone rang this morning."

"I'm sorry, really sorry. I had, well, I guess you would call it more of a sad dream rather than a bad dream and it really messed with my head. And a phone call from Ross really played a lot into it."

Bobby reached out with his free hand and caressed the side of her face and then leaned into kiss her cheek where a stray tear had escaped her fierce control. "Will you tell me about it?"

When she had finished recounting the dream to him, he pulled her into his arms and held her. After holding her for awhile, he started becoming aware of the fact that she didn't have anything on under the robe and his own body was starting to take notice. He felt her hands come up between them and start opening his shirt buttons. "Alex, what are you doing" he said when she started placing small kisses on his chest. Here he was trying desperately to be a gentleman and not take advantage of her emotional state (not to mention her nearly naked state) and she was making it more difficult by the second.

"Alex, I want you desperately, but I don't want to take advantage of you or rush you." He managed to choke out when she started working on the button of his pants. She stopped and sat up to look at his wonderful face.

"Do I look rushed to you?" she said with her voice velvety soft with desire.

"We agreed we should wait until we work out our issues." He was quickly loosing the internal battle with his self control. "There was all that stuff about going from point A to point D and crashing and burning" He knew he was starting to ramble but rational thought was not happening with her hand still working on getting his pants open.

She leaned forward and went to work on his neck with her lips and still managed to debate the point with him. "I know what we said, and we have talked about some of it. As far as crashing and burning, I'm burning right now." But then she stopped. She stopped everything and scooted down to the end of the couch. "Buy if you're not, we can just get ready for work and take the extra time to stop for some breakfast."


	10. Payback

"What?" Bobby was confused by what just happened. One minute Alex was all over him making him feel like a randy teenager about to get lucky for the first time and the next she was three feet away calmly suggesting they stop for breakfast on the way to work. As he sat there watching her, he saw her lightly biting her lower lip and he could tell that she was watching him out of the corner of her eyes even though she was looking at her feet that were curled up beside her. To anyone else it might have looked like she was afraid of what he would do next, but he knew her better than that. She could kick his ass up one side and down the other and they both knew it.

Deciding two could play her game, he reached over, grabbed hold of her ankles and quickly pulled her into a laying position, trapping her beneath him. He braced his arms on the couch beside her head so that he didn't crush her with his weight. Leaning his head down, Bobby started nibbling on Alex's ear and neck. Alex felt like she was in heaven. He wasn't even really physically touching her (at least not with his hands), but it felt like he was touching her everywhere at once. She wrapped her arms around his neck, ran her fingers through the hair on the back of his head and stroked his shoulders.

Just when Bobby felt her starting to try to lift herself up into him and trying to shift her legs so that he would be between them, he dropped one leg off the side of the couch and used it as leverage to stand up. "So" he said as causally as he could manage given the circumstances. "You said something about stopping for breakfast?"

Bobby and Alex were sitting in their favorite dinner eating breakfast. He couldn't help grinning as he remembered the look on her face when he had stood up and reminded her that she had suggested getting breakfast. On his way to a cold shower he had heard what he thought was her screaming into a pillow on the couch.

"Just what are you grinning at Goren?"

He cleared his throat in an effort to sound serious when he replied. "Trust me when I say you don't want to know."

"OH I assure you I do." Trying to sound stern. He couldn't hold it in any longer and started laughing.

"If you could have seen your face." She threw her napkin at him and laughed along with him.

"On a more serious note" he said reaching his hand across the table to take hold of hers. "When it happens, and it is going to happen, it's going to be when we have hours and hours so that I can memorize every inch of your beautiful body. Alex felt a stab of raw desire run through her veins at his words. She could see the love and desire in his eyes and wanted to crawl over the table and into his lap (if they weren't in a public place she just might have). Instead she shifted her hand so that their fingers were interlaced and opened her mouth to say something but just as she did, a shadow fell across the table. They both slowly turned their heads, afraid that it was going to be Ross (they planned on telling him but not until Bobby was ready to put in for his retirement),

Mike Logan stood there with his hands in his pockets grinning at them. "So what have we here?"

"Ha ha" Bobby replied as he scooted over so that he could join them. Alex tried to pull her hand away but Bobby refused to let go. "Did you want something or did you just come over here to harass us?"

"Hey, nothing wrong with a two for one." When he didn't elaborate, Alex raised her eye brows at him and stared until he caved. "OK, OK, Deakins wanted me to tell you to stop by when you got a free couple of minutes."

"Why didn't he just call, or you for that matter?" Bobby asked.

"As strange as it sounds, I was walking by talking to him on the phone when I saw you guys through the window and mentioned it to him in passing." Alex and Bobby looked at each other and than back at him with skepticism. "Alright, I know how it sounds but it's the truth." He said as he stood up. "I'm out of here."

Alex smiled at him when she said, "Don't go away mad."

"Just go away, right?" Mike finished for her with a smile of his own. "See Ya"

After he walked away Bobby pondered the message that Logan had delivered. "I wonder what Deakins wants."

"He probably wants to know when you are going to put in your request for retirement."

"Maybe but he knew that I wouldn't do that until I got the courage to talk to you about it. He said to take all the time I needed and the job would be there when I was ready for it."

"Gee Bobby, you needed to gather up courage to talk to little ol' me?"

"Hmm, let's see, I was keeping secrets and going behind your back, and then I didn't know if you would knock me on my ass or not for even suggesting that you might want to be with me. I don't know why I would have needed courage."

"You're just lucky that I do love you and want to be with you or else I would have kicked your ass for the whole secret thing."

"Don't I know it." He said, Since he was still holding her hand he picked it up and kissed the back of it. "And by the way, I love you too."

After they finished the coffee that they ordered with their meals, they got up and paid the bill. On the way out Bobby suggested . "Let's try and squeeze a stop in to see Deakins after we meet with the ADA."

"Works for me"


	11. Blue Backs

When they got to the DA's office, Bobby and Alex were directed to one of the conference rooms. ADA Jerry Coleman was waiting for them with Ross, Detective O'Neil, and a man they were not familiar with.

"Detectives" Coleman said. "Come in. I believe you know Detective O'Neil. This is her Captain, Brad Crane."

Captain Crane crossed the room to shake their hands. "Detectives?"

"Goren"

"Eames"

"A pleasure to finally meet the partners with one of the highest solve rates in the department. If you ever get tired of Major Case, I'd be glad to have you at the one eight." Behind him they could see O'Neil rolling her eyes.

"Thanks" Eames replied. "We'll keep that in mind.

Ross spoke up as he came up behind his Detectives. "Brad, quit trying to steal my people. They aren't going anywhere." At his words Bobby and Alex glanced at each other, both feeling slightly guilty, knowing that Bobby at the very least was going to be leaving soon. Crane shrugged his shoulders and walked back over to O'Neil.

"What's the matter Danny, you would still have Zach."

Coleman cleared his throat and said. "Captains, Detectives, lets get started." Every one moved over to the table and sat down. Ross, Alex, and Bobby sat on one side while Crane and O'Neil sat on the other. Coleman opted to stand at the end. "OK. Here is the situation. Because the defendant is from out of state as well as most of the witnesses, his lawyer is pressing for an expedited court date and has already started filing suppression motions." He picked up a stack of blue backed papers and started listing the motions. "Confession: coerced and without legal representation. Murder weapon: illegal search and seizure..."

O'Neil interrupted him. "Those are Goren's screw ups, not mine. I don't see why I should have to be here."

Every one in the room turned to stare at her. Captain Crane was the first to speak however. "O'Neil, you are out of line."

Bobby could see that Alex was angry and on the verge of saying something, so to calm her, he leaned over and whispered to her. "Easy Eames, remember, she's Moran's pet."

"Maybe," she whispered back, "but she still has no right..."

"Some thing you'd like to share with the class" O'Neil said snidely after seeing their exchange.

"Cheri, I swear..."

"People!" Coleman said loudly. "I don't know what is going on here but it's not going to help our case. In fact it seems to be part of the problem. The next motion is proof of that." He held up another blue back. "Motion to dismiss: It seems there was some sort of altercation between Detectives O'Neil and Eames. Harrigan's lawyer is claiming that Eames and Goren's judgment was impaired due to the near brawl and caused them to rush to arrest his client prematurely. It also goes on to suggest that the altercation drew a large crowd and left the crime scene unsecured, resulting in the opportunity for someone to switch the real murder weapon for a similar one that belonged to the defendant."

Bobby had been watching O'Neil while the ADA was reading the contents of the motion to them. She was looking smug and he had a feeling that somehow she was responsible for the fact that the defense attorney knew about the argument on the deck of the boat. This was another reason he was glad that he was going to be getting out. Detectives like O'Neil made every one look bad.

"Counselor" Ross spoke up to defend his Detectives. "Detectives Eames and Goren are the utmost professionals and have never allowed tier personal feelings to interfere with the job."

"Are you willing to testify to that?"

Ross glanced over at Bobby and Alex for a moment before turning back to the ADA and responding. "Of course"

Alex was gratified by the Captains support and willingness to put his own reputation on the line for them. When she glanced over at Bobby, he was looking at the Captain with some surprise. Before she could think too much more about it though Coleman was going on.

"Good, let's hope it doesn't actually come to that though. Now then, as much as it pains me to ask. What was the incident about and who started it?"

Alex and Cheri just stared at each other until Cheri broke the silence. "Why ask me? She's Major Case."

It seemed to Bobby that Cheri O'Neil was intent on causing trouble for Alex because of her defense of him. If it was just his reputation on the line, he would have just let it go since he would be putting in his notice soon. What he wouldn't allow though was anymore black marks on Alex's record because of him. "It was me"

"Excuse me," Coleman said. "I thought it was between Eames and O'Neil?"

"It was but I started it"

"I don't understand."

Alex turned in her chair so that she was facing Bobby. She knew that he was trying to protect her and knowing that made her love him even more (and she hadn't thought that was even possible), she wasn't going to allow him to do it though. "I do, but I'm sorry. You're not going to take the rap for this."

Turning back to the ADA, she continued. "I have never been one to carry tales to the principle so to speak. However, Detective O'Neil and I knew each other when we were both back in Vice. The only way in which my partner was involved in what happened on the boat is that she took an instant dislike to him. After he started below decks to look over the crime scene she felt the need to question my judgment in remaining his partner and I defended myself and him."

During the whole exchange, Captain Crane was watching his Detective. She was looking way to smug to his thinking. "Mr Coleman, I would like to know how the Defense attorney even knew about a disagreement between these Detectives."

"Believe me, so would I."

"Maybe..." O'Neil spoke up. "Maybe the guy's attorney is just really good at his job."

"Counselor" Crane asked. "What is the defense attorney's name?"

"Greg Dix"

"Right there is our answer Counselor, Greg Dix is Detective O'Neil's brother-in-law"

Everyone in the room stared at Cheri O'Neil. They were all shocked that a detective would intentionally undermine a case like that. Alex was the first one to break the silence and she did so at the top of her lungs.

"What were you thinking? Did you decide that on your own or did Moran put you up to it?" She had pushed herself up out of her chair while she was yelling and started to walk around the table but Bobby stood up also and stepped in front of her.

"Alex" he said quietly "Don't, she's not worth it"

She turned back to the table but stood there with her arms crossed and every one in the room could see that she was still seething with anger.

"Detectives, Counselor," Captain Crane said. "On behalf of Detective O'Neil and my precint you have our apologies."

Cheri interrupted him. "Don't apologize for me"

"Shut up, Detective. As I said, you have our apologies. You are completely within your rights to file a complaint with IAB but I assure you that Detective O'Neil will be dealt with so that this won't happen again." He stood up and grabbed her arm pulling her up with him. "If you will excuse us" Crane all but dragged her out of the room.

Coleman watched them go, then turned back to those who remained. "Detectives, as far as the confession, did Harrigan ask for a lawyer?"  
Bobby glanced at Alex but could see that she was still so angry that if she said anything now it would not be helpful so he went ahead and answered. "No"

"I am assuming that he was informed of his rights."

"Yes, once he was placed under arrest. His original statement that it was an accident was made during standard questioning because he was the deceased roommate. After which my partner placed him under arrest and read him his rights."

"Good enough, now as far as the search and seizure, where was the murder weapon found?"

"Under the bed, two feet away from the victim."

"So it was with in the boundaries of the crime scene?"

"Yes"

"Then the defense is grasping at straws there."

"Thank you for coming in. I'm sure we will be meeting on this matter again before it's done."

He walked over and shook hands with Ross and Bobby. Alex had already turned and headed for the door. Ross looked over at Bobby on the way out and said. "There's nothing pressing on your desks at the moment. Take the rest of the day to calm down your partner. I'll call if a case comes up."


	12. Coming to Blows

Bobby found Alex waiting for him at the elevator. She was pacing back and forth in front of the doors. When she noticed him approaching, she stopped and pushed the call button. Luckily for everyone else in the building, when the doors opened the elevator was empty. He had only seen her this mad one other time and it wasn't a pleasant memory since he had been the target of the anger that time. Once the doors closed, shutting out the rest of the world for a couple of minutes, Bobby turned and just opened his arms. After a very quick inner debate with herself, Alex turned and stepped into his embrace. Her stiff, ridged, angry body relaxed into him and she sighed before mumbling into his chest.

"I'm still mad."

"I know Honey, I'm sorry"

"Why are you sorry, it's not your fault."

"I don't like to see you upset."

Alex felt the elevator come to a stop and gave a quick squeeze before releasing her hold on Bobby's waist and stepping away. When they exited the building, they saw Captain Crane and Detective Cheri O'Neil standing a few yards away.

"You can't do that!" they heard O'Neil yell.

"Watch me!" Crane responded tightly.

Alex looked like she was about to go over and confront O'Neil so Bobby put an arm around her shoulders and gently steered her in the other direction.

"I know it seems like a good idea right now but trust me, you will thank me later."

"Maybe" Alex said but she nodded her head to agree.

They had walked about thirty feet when she felt a hand grab her arm from behind. When she didn't stop walking the hand on her arm pulled hard, spinning her around.

"Isn't this sweet" O'Neil sneered. "I wonder what your Captain would say if he saw you and your partner in each others arms."

"Actually," Ross said as he came up behind her. "I'm not going to say anything about it. Detective Goren was obviously using his arm to steer his partner away from a confrontation with you."

Bobby was at a loss for words. He had gotten caught with his arm around his partner by his Captain (who is usually the first one to jump on his case) and was then defended by him.

"Are you just blind or stupid." O'Neil said to Ross. "These two so called Detectives have been having an affair right under your nose for years."

That accusation jump started Bobby's thought processes "First of all that is just not true, and second of all, even if it was, it's none your business."

"You think you can break the rules when ever it suits you but expect everyone else to follow them perfectly?"

"If your talking about how you broke the rules spilling your guts to the defense..."

"I'm talking about," O'Neil's voice rising as she interrupted him. "the fact that Patrick Coppa was pushed out of the department and a violent gang banger was put back on the street because of you! And what about you Alex, how can you stand to be around the whack job that got the man convicted of Joe's murder released as..."

Before any of the men standing there could react, Alex ended O'Neil's rant with by planting a fist in her mouth. Captain Crane had been hanging back from the group but was still close enough to hear what was being said. He had been hoping that if he let her keep going without his interference, that she would give him stronger grounds for a suspension. When she ended up on the ground though thanks to Alex's right hook, he decided he better step back in.

O'Neil came up off the ground fairly quickly and lunged for Alex but her Captain got between them and pushed her back, while Bobby grabbed Alex by the shoulders and held her back.

"O'Neil" Crane said. "Turn around and walk away."

"But"

"Walk away and be in my office in one hour!" After he watched her walk away (or more accurately- stomp away) he turned back to Alex, Bobby and Ross. "Detectives, Danny, I apologize again for her behavior. She seems to have it in for you two and I don't understand why, but there you have it. I plan to have her actions in this case reviewed by IAB but if she stays true to form she will likely go over my head to the Chief of D's."

"Let her," Alex said. "I'll put my record next to hers any day. Anyways, being Moran's pet will only get her so far, and if IAB wants to talk to me about what just happened here then bring them on too. I am sick and tired of people calling my partner a 'Whack Job'."

Crane slipped his hands in his pockets and nodded as she spoke and then said before he walked away, "You know, back when I was on the streets, I wish I had had a partner as loyal as you seem to be."

Alex turned to Ross and said, "Sorry Captain, I let my anger get the better of me."

"I would be tempted to say 'Not a problem', but I have a feeling that you haven't seen the last of her. And if she is Moran's pet like you said then I suspect that he will paying the squad a visit very soon. Goren," He continued, shifting his gaze to Bobby, "What I said" and then he turned and walked away as well.

"What? What did he say?" Alex turned and asked.

"After you left the office upstairs, he said to take the rest of the day and cool down my partner." He said with a smile.

"Wow that's a bit of a roll reversal isn't it?"

"Sure is" Bobby wrapped his arm back around her shoulders and started walking towards the street where they parked. "Let's get some coffee and go see Deakins."

"Sounds like a plan"


	13. A Proper Proposal

A:N I decided that Alex needed a fluff break after the latest run in with Det. Cheri O'Neil.

* * *

"Were you as surprised by Ross as I was?" Bobby asked Alex, once she had pulled the SUV out into traffic.

"I was a little surprised." Alex admitted. "Not as much as you probably were though. The way you two always seem to butt heads..." What she was saying trailed off when they were cut off by someone in a sports car the seemed to be in a hurry.

"I suppose" He was quiet after that for awhile, thinking about the last couple of days. He had told her his plan to leave the department, his reasons and what he wanted for the future. He had told her of his love and she had said that she loved him too. She also seemed to be on board with his plans, but it occurred to him that even though he had said that he wanted to marry her, he had never actually proposed. Plus, even though they had talked about some of their past issues, they hadn't really talked about their future, with the exception of dealing with Alex's bad dream about missing our on their future baby's life.

"You're awfully quiet over there." Alex said. His quietness wasn't unusual in the vehicle but usually his binder was open and he was going over his notes for a case. This time though, the binder was closed and he was looking out of the passenger side window. She knew that when he got like this, he was generally beating himself up mentally about something and this time she figured it had to do with everything that was going on with Cheri O'Neil and deciding that it was all his fault. She wanted to make him see that it was Moran's fault and Cheri's, not his. "Bobby, you know that none of this is your fault, right?"

"What?" He asked. He had been so wrapped up in his thoughts about needing to properly propose that he hadn't heard what she had said.

"I said that I hope you realize that none of that back there was your fault."

"Oh, that. Well I think that this is one of those times that we will need to agree to disagree. That's not what I was thinking about though. I had something else on my mind."

"Care to share?"

"I'll tell you later. How about we get that coffee from a street vendor near Central Park and take a stroll."

"What about going to see Deakins?"

"He's not expecting us at any particular time, just when we have a few minutes to spare. So what do you say. Do you feel up to a walk in the park?"

"Sure, why not?"

"Good, just one thing. Would you mind swinging by my place for a second. It won't take long, I promise."

Alex just nodded and took the next left.

* * *

When Bobby walked into his apartment, he went straight into his bedroom and opened the wooden box on his dresser. Inside were two small velvet boxes. He picked up the one on the left and opened it. Inside was his mothers ring. At one time he would have given serious thought to giving it to Alex, but after everything he found out about his mother and Brady, he decided that this ring did not symbolize the feeling of love and fidelity that he wanted when giving an engagement ring to Alex. Instead he closed the box and put it back, taking out the other one instead. He opened it and took a few seconds to gaze at the ring that he had picked out just for Alex weeks ago (while working up his courage) and imagined it on her hand. The ring was small but didn't come across as delicate, a lot like Alex herself. It had a pearl in the center with alternating diamond and emerald chips surrounding it. Closing it back up, he tucked the box into his pant pocket, swapped his suit jacket for a denim one and grabbed a blanket for them to sit on at the park.

* * *

The walked along the path holding hands. Since it was the middle of the day and they were fairly certain that Ross and the majority of the NYPD brass were safely tucked away in their offices, they weren't worried about being seen, or at least Bobby wasn't. Alex on the other hand didn't care if they were seen or not. She was already rethinking her own future with the department. She was always careful in the past about how much they touched and when, mostly keeping it to when they were undercover. That was when she thought that the love was all one sided. Now though, she knew that he loved her too, so if they weren't on the clock work-wise, then they were free to hold hands, kiss or whatever else they wanted to and to heck with what anyone who saw them thought.

Bobby found them a quiet spot under a tree and spread the blanket out. They both sat down with their legs stretched out in front of them. Alex then leaned back on her elbows to watch the clouds drift along in the sky. Bobby leaned back as well, but then rolled onto his side so that he could look at her. He took the ring box out of his pocket but kept it out of sight until he was ready.

"Alex"

"Hmm?" She turned her head and felt her heart do a flip flop at the sight at the love in his eyes.

"I have been taking things for granted the last couple of days and I'm sorry for that. That's what I was thinking about in the SUV earlier."  
"What do you mean?"

"What I mean is that instead of just saying that I wanted to marry you and start a family, I should have done it right." He picked up the box and opened it so that she could see it. "Alex, I love you with all my heart. I know that I am not much to look at anymore, and that I am not always the easiest to get along with, but I am nothing without you. Will you please save me one more time and marry me?"

Alex's gaze had been glued to the ring after he opened the box, but she looked back up into his eyes as he was asking her the question, and tears formed in her eyes. The lump that developed in her throat made it impossible to speak so she nodded repeatedly and threw herself at him, wrapping her arms around his shoulders and burying her face in his neck. She had never been as happy as she was right at that moment (not even the day she married Joe).

Bobby lowered them down so that she was laying on the ground and then pulled back to look at her for a minute before lowering his head to kiss her. Without breaking the kiss, he used one hand to get the ring out of the box and lay it on her stomach. Then he gently pulled her left hand down from around his neck, to her stomach and slipped the ring on the finger.


	14. Arrest

Disclaimer: Nope, still don't own.

A/N: This part may have gotten a little out of character, but as many times as I sat down to write it a different way, Bobby and Alex wanted to be practical jokers.

* * *

Alex and Bobby laid there on the blanket in Central Park for close to an hour, kissing and holding each other. Both of them were careful to not get carried away and indecent in such a public place.

Finally Alex took a moment to look at the ring again instead of Bobby's face.

"It's beautiful" She said.

"Just like you" He replied. "Small and feminine but not delicate. Elegant without being flashy." Just then his cell phone rang. Checking the display, he saw that it was Ross. He sighed and sat up to answer it.

"Goren"

"Did you manage to get your partner calmed down?" Ross asked.

Bobby looked over at her gazing happily at her ring. "Yes sir, I believe so."

"Good. I hope that this won't get her too riled up again but the Chief of D's wants a meeting with her and Detective O'Neil. ASAP. I put him off until tomorrow afternoon, but I thought she should know."

"Right, thanks for the update Captain. I'll let her know." When he got off the phone, he saw that Alex had sat up and was looking at him, her face a little less relaxed and happy than before Ross called.

"Ross?"

"Yeah, O'Neil's trip over her captains head was a fast one."

"So what now?"

"Meeting in Moran's office tomorrow afternoon."

"I'm surprised that he was willing to wait that long."

"He really wasn't but Ross stood his ground and must have refused to call you back in today."

"It's too bad that we're quitting. I think that I am starting to really like him."

"We're?"

Alex stood up and reached down to help him get up. There was no point in trying to get comfortable again. The phone call had broken the mood and their sense of being alone in the world. Besides, as much as she had enjoyed the time spent, she knew that the hard ground had likely done a job on Bobby's back.

"I'll explain in the car, on the way to see Deakins.

Once they were back in the SUV and on the road, Bobby turned to Alex, "OK, spill it. What did you mean 'we're quitting'?"

"Just that."

"It's this whole thing with O'Neil, isn't it?"

"No, not all of it. Let's just say that it's the straw that broke the camels back."

"But you love being a cop."

"I love doing the job, and so do you. It's everything else that goes along with it that I am tired of. Besides, you weren't the only one thinking that this job was getting in the way of having a life. You were just the first one to do something about it."

She paused and glanced over at him with a smile and reached over to hold his hand.

"I made a phone call while you ran into your apartment and talked to the union rep. I have enough years in to get most of my pension benefits, just not full. And even though this isn't the best time to bring it up, I will still continue to get Joe's death benefits."

"Are you sure? I don't want you to rush into quitting and then regret it latter."

They were pulling into the parking garage next to the building that the Deakins and Tanner security company was in so Alex said. "We'll talk more about this later. I promise. OK?"

"OK, I'll hold you to that."

When they got off the elevator on the 5th floor and walked into the lobby, there was a girl at the reception desk that neither of them had seen before on their previous visits to their old captain.

Alex stepped up to the counter but Bobby hung back and started looking around the waiting area like he would if they were there for a case.

"Can I help you?" the girl asked in a snide, better than everyone else tone.

"Yes. We're here to see Jimmy Deakins." Alex could have sworn the girls nose lifted several inches in disdain.

"Mr. Deakins is on an important phone call and can not be disturbed. Do you have an appointment?"

Bobby stepped up close behind Alex and tapped his badge on the counter. "We don't have an appointment, but it would be in everyone's interest for us to see him."

The girl was at a loss as to what to do, but Mike walked then and put a hand on her shoulder. "Don't sweat it Jean, I'll take care of these two."

Jean gave a sigh of relief when she looked up and saw Mike Logan. "Thank goodness you're here Mr Logan. These two are cops, and they want to see Mr. Deakins, but he is on a phone call and I didn't want to disturb him."

"Don't worry, I got it"

Bobby leaned closer to Alex and whispered "Trust me?"

"Always, why?"

"Just play along OK?"

She gave a small, almost imperceptible nod, but it was enough for him to catch it. Stepping away from her he said. "Logan. Is that as in Mike Logan?"

Mike looked back and forth between Bobby and Alex, confused. They knew darn well it was, so what were they up to? He decided to play along for now and get the answers later.

"It was last time I checked my drivers license. As Jean here said, Mr Deakins is tied up at the moment so if you would state your business here, I may be able to help you."

"Our business here, Mr Logan, is you. If you would step out from behind the counter..."

"Why? Are you going to arrest me?"

Alex started to move around the counter towards him while pulling out her handcuffs. "That's the general idea. Yes." She reached for his arm and he backed up.

"Now, wait a minute, what's the charges?"

"Let's start with stalking and harassment. OH and impersonating a Detective" Alex had a hard time saying the last part with a strait face.

"I never.."

"You're telling us." Bobby said as he approached him from behind and pulled his hands behind his back (gently, not wanting to really hurt him) so Alex could cuff him.

"Wait" Jean called as they walked him towards the door. "Where are you taking him?"

Bobby and Alex looked at each other before calling over their shoulders.

"One Police Plaza"

"Eleventh Floor"


End file.
